Diabetes is the leading cause of permanent blindness in adults in the United States. Diabetes can cause cataracts, glaucoma and retina problems. There are two main types of diabetic retinopathy- non-proliferative and proliferative, as shown in the videos above. The proliferative form can cause bleeding in your eye also known as hemorrhage. If the bleeding is in the jelly substance of your eye, or vitreous, it can cause profound loss of vision. Surgery often helps this problem. Diabetes can also cause swelling or edema in your central vision called macular edema. If you see black spots in your vision, floaters, flashes of light, missing vision, blurred vision, or if you have not had a dilated eye evaluation in some time, call 808-676-4772 to make an appointment with Doctor Tafoya.